Atlantis Undocks from Space Station, Conducts Shuttle Inspections

The crew flying the space shuttle Atlantis starts preparations for their return to Earth, conducting an inspection of the shuttle's heat shield after ending a seven-day visit to the International Space Station (ISS).

After undocking from the International Space Station on Sunday, the crew of
the space shuttle Atlantis, which is on its final mission, began a
final inspection of Atlantis' heat shield. The crew of six will also pack up
spacesuits and have some time off, the space agency NASA reported.
Shuttle mission STS-132 will be followed
by two last shuttle missions, before the program is mothballed forever.

Mission Specialist Steve Bowen and fellow spacewalker Mission Specialist Mike
Good started their day by cleaning up the spacesuits and stowing them, after
the crew awoke to the theme music for the stop-motion animated television show "Wallace
and Gromit." "Thank you to my family, Debbie and the boys; it's
another great day in space," Bowen said.

Commander Ken Ham, Pilot Tony Antonelli and Mission Specialists Garrett Reisman
and Piers Sellers will work on inspection activities, again using the shuttle's
robotic arm, the 50-foot-long orbiter boom and its cameras to scan Atlantis'
nose and starboard, or right, wing. They will break for lunch and then finish
the task by scanning the port wing, while exercise sessions will be
interspersed throughout the day for each of the crewmembers to help prepare
them for their return to Earth's gravity Wednesday. NASA reported crew sleep is
scheduled for 3:20 p.m.

A cable snag at the end of the orbiter boom sensor system (OBSS) had prevented
a full inspection after launch. Spacewalkers cleared the snag, so the arm
should be fully operational Monday. Other imagery and engineering data was used
to fill in the gaps in the post-launch inspection. On Tuesday, the crew will
focus on cabin stowage and checkout of Atlantis' reaction control system and
its flight control surfaces. Landing at Kennedy
Space Center
is scheduled for 7:48 a.m. Wednesday,
NASA reported.

The uncoupling from the ISS ended a seven-day stay that saw the addition of a
new station module, replacement of batteries and resupply of the orbiting
outpost. During three spacewalks, astronauts added a backup high-data-rate
antenna to the station and a tool platform to Dextre, the robotlike special-purpose
dexterous manipulator. They also removed and replaced six 375-pound batteries
on the station's P6 truss segment. Sellers and Reisman installed Rassvet, the
Russian Mini-Research Module 1 brought to the station by Atlantis, on the Zarya
module.

The joint operations were a good example of friendship and professionalism,
station Commander Oleg Kotov said after summarizing the week's accomplishments
in the farewell ceremony. Commander Ham responded with equally kind words. "We
are one happy shuttle crew-happy because of all of your efforts too. We were a
12-person crew that operated together."

Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.